Handsomest Drowned Man Conflict

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in The World,” “The Metamorphosis” and “The Blues” are short stories that share a common theme which would be society’s pressure and influence on the humane experience. The stories share the same theme which is conflict discovered through various situations. In the Metamorphosis, Gregor faces difficult situations in his life due to his transformation into an enormous insect. The series of unfortunate events in Gregor’s life brings about a conflict in regards to his failure to secure a position within a family dynamic. In the Handsomest drowned man in the world, the discovery of Esteban, brings about conflict of jealousy and self-worth created by societies focus on appearance. Man vs. society is a major category

In most societies men are expected to be the one providing for the family. Gregor taking on patriarchal role was expected to provide for his family and he did so solely until his transformation. After this transformation, he would no longer be able provide for them. The occurrence of Gregor’s metamorphosis forced his family to have to take on more financial responsibility but only because they thought this change was temporary. They have empathy for him and take care of Gregor for a while until they realize that this is his permanent state once this is realized he becomes more of a repulsive hindrance. Gregor has lost his place in the family structure and attempts to accept his new state of being and tries to relieve his family of any inconvenience and becomes quiet and docile. The climactic moment that embodies the conflict is when the boarders spot Gregor and refuse to pay. His family reacts harshly and agrees that he is a burden that they no longer want to deal with. Gregor decides to end his life to relieve his families suffering. Gregor’s inability to financially contribute was what made him lose value to the family and he had become a liability. His family’s economic security surpassed all emotional attachment. In “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the world” comes in handy with man versus society conflict. In this case the people

Another conflict of man versus society is that he may have been ashamed due to his big size. This conflict arises as the man does not have the normal size according to the society. The people in the society concluded that he could have caused so much trouble to the villagers as he had left men and women breathless due to his masculinity and handsomeness (Gabriel García Márquez, 1968). In the “Sonny’s Blues” man versus society is evident whereby the narrator’s brother is arrested due to the heroin addiction. The society finds it unacceptable for people to use heroin but Sonny is addicted to it, in essence, he cannot do without it. He is therefore arrested. Sonny’s brother dislikes sonny’s brother because of their drug addiction this is evidently seen when he encounters them in the school courtyard he feels pity for them. The man vs. society in “The Blues” is also depicted in a manner that explains how drug addicts are treated in this case the treatment is being arrested. There after the same drug addicts are also released. They are often cleaned up and refrained from using heroin but after all, they are taken to the same streets where they were used to the drug addiction hence the highest probability is that these people will always fall back into the same habit of drug addiction (James Baldwin,